Smartphones are great devices that are getting more and more useful features.
So many people are using Smartphones that many of us, especially younger marketers and application developers, assume that everyone has them and knows how to use them.
A Pew Research Center survey from May 19 to September 5, 2023 found about 76% of the U.S. population age 65 and older owns a smartphone. That means about 24% of them don’t.
And many of the seniors who do own a smartphone don’t know how to use them very well.
I admit that most of my online work is done using my laptop computer. I even access texts and voice messages on my laptop. I’m not the greatest at navigating between applications on my smartphone. My grandchildren enjoy teasing me because my smartphone is turned off most of the time, although I have migrated to using my smartphone for taking most of my photos and videos.
Yep. I’m a dinosaur.
Designers of online applications should remember to test whether those applications work on various devices, including Apple iPhones, Android Smartphones, Windows-compatible computers and Apple Macintosh computers. If they don’t, they might be shutting out many potential users.
I spent a half-hour on the telephone today with an online support person for the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to set up an online account. (Yes, I got through to a real, live person!) She walked me through the process many times on my laptop. I always got stuck at “Step 3”, which was sending a code as a telephone call or an SMS (text) message. The application wouldn’t progress to Step 4.
Finally, I decided to try setting up the account using my Smartphone, and that worked. Evidently, the application works on a Smartphone and not on a personal computer.
In California, individuals age 70 or older must renew their driver’s license at the DMV to take a vision test, take a photo and provide a thumbprint. There is also a knowledge exam that can be done online or at the DMV, which I prefer to complete online.
It’s significant that many of those individuals won’t have the online exam option because they don’t have a Smartphone or they don’t know how to navigate between applications on their Smartphone. (Maybe their grandkids can help them do it.)
When planning marketing campaigns or other applications, consider whether you’re leaving many prospective customers out because they don’t know how to use the latest technology.